Airport Delay Sanity : Be Prepared To Entertain Yourself

Web: www.thetravelstrategist.com — E-Mail: fish@flyingwithfish.com

27/12/2008 – Airport Delay Sanity : Be Prepared To Entertain Yourself

Airport delays, cancellations and unexpected ‘slumber parties’ happen. It is often an unavoidable fact and if you fly often enough you will encounter the dreaded extra long delay surrounded by thousands of strangers just as stranded as you are.

There are many ways to combat the boredom. You can surf the internet, read a book, read a magazine, strike up a conversation, watch DVDs and countless other options.  There are times of the year when delays are more common and you should be prepared for a long wait.

Personally when I am stuck in an airport I try not to watch my DVDs. Why do I avoid my DVDs?  Because those movies are my in-flight sanity and eventually I will get in the air and want to watch my movies in flight.

So what do I do?  Well sometimes I wander and explore the surroundings around me, other times I hunker down in quiet place and try and sleep out the delay…and very often I can be found drumming on my bag.

Drumming on my bag?  Yup, just what it sounds like, I often pack a pair of drumsticks in my bag.   Drumsticks take up virtually no space, allow me to work off nervous energy and keep me entertained.   To prevent me from annoying those around me, I usually find a corner and use the back of my bag as my drum pad.   I find the back of most bags ideal because they are padded, the padding not only protects the contents of my bag throughout my stream of hits, flams, rudiments, fills and rim shots…but the padding also muffles the sounds of my drum sticks.

While an airport is loud and chaotic at the best times, and even more so during a long delay or cancellation period, there are still people who can hear you and you need to practice proper airport etiquette.

Drumsticks can provide me with hours of entertainment with my noise canceling headsets in my ears and the buzzing of the airport around me blocked out.

My preference in drumsticks and their relation to commercial airline travel is purely coincidental.   The sticks I have been using since I was around 14 years old have been Pro Mark 747 sticks (the sticks were not named for the Boeing 747). Of the Pro Mark 747 sticks I use, I have been using the Neil Peart series since I was 16…and Neil Pert (the drummer for Rush) wrote the popular instrumental song YYZ, named for the Toronto’s international airport code, which is “YYZ.”

Do you travel with something to keep you occupied during unforeseen delays and cancellations?   If you have an Airport Sanity Delay tip let me know!

Below are two photos of my drum sticks, with my Gura Gear Kiboko backpack.

Happy Flying!
–Click Images Below To Enlarge The Photos–